Hidalgo Trading Company

What is the Hidalgo Trading Company? In the Doc Savage novels it was the name of an imaginary concern. A warehouse on a pier in the Hudson River Harbor. The home of many of Doc's autogyros, submarines, and other wonderful modes of transportation.

In September 1996 the Hidalgo Trading Company opened on the Internet. From the beginning I wanted one thing for the HTC: fan participation. In the past six years we've had fan artwork, articles, and fiction. We sponsored the first complete Doc Savage fan novel on the Internet: Bleeding Sun. We also had a hand in the creation of that shananigan.

A few months after opening the HTC I met a French speaking Doc Savage fan -- Catherine. When we married she moved her Doc Savage website, L'homme de Bronze under the HTC banner.

Our next addition to the HTC wasn't a website. We were fed up with all the spam we had to wade through on the Doc Savage discussion group. We could have followed many Doc fans and dropped the newsgroup. Instead we started the Flearun -- a spam and flame free newsgroup for Doc fans.

On the HTC's fifth aniversary (Sep. 2001) I wanted a permanent home for the HTC. It was about the time the .INFO domain opened. What better place for information about Doc Savage than DocSavage.Info? In April 2002 DocSavage.Org was made available. I added that domain and started building an online Doc Savage Encyclopedia.

During all the growth of the HTC there has been a single constant: reader participation. This is especially true today. Every page of DocSavage.Info and DocSavage.Org is coded to easily allow fans to add their thoughts.

We encourage you to wander through the many pages of DSI, DSO, and L'homme de Bronze. Don't forget to add your voice to the many Doc fans before you.

A review of the new chronology written by Jeff Deischer

You can blame Phillip Jose Farmer for the spate of Doc Savage chronologies. Farmer proposed that the Doc Savage adventures were based on real events. He proceeded to list the adventures in chronological order. His list wasn't the last word on the subject. As other's have disagreed with his decision to mark Doc's birthdate there have been other chronologies.

The latest attempt to place the Doc novels in historical order is by a person DocSavage.Info readers recognize -- Jeff Deischer. He wrote the second Doc novel offered by the Hidalgo Trading Company -- The Stone Death. No matter his connection to this site I have to tell you I really enjoyed The Adventures of Doc Savage: A Definitive Chronology. A manuscript prepared by a Doc scholar, well-written, and thought-provoking.

In his introduction Deischer offers the cornerstone to his chronology: the LPO. The Last Possible Occurance of each adventure is "the latest date that the last day of an adventure can occur." Deischer decided that it takes at least 60 days before an magazine cover date to write and prepare a novel for publication.

This time includes the fact that the cover date of an issue is actually more than a week after the magazine appeared on the newsstands. Deischer notes that the issues were on the newsstands the third Friday of each month. Since he didn't want to find the exact date he makes an assumption the newsstand date is always the 15th of the month. I note this since I decided to list the actual release dates on DocSavage.Org and here.

Deischer's second assumption is that the novels occured in manuscript submitted order unless internal evidence disputes that order.

Deischer took the LPO and submitted order then looked at the novels to find weather data, known events, dates, days, and vegatation. With meticulous research and strong logic Deischer presents the Doc novels in "actual order of occurance." Whee Farmer simply listed the order and maybe a word or two about his reasoning Deischer offers paragraphs for each entry. The reader is offered not only clues deciding order but interesting trivia for each entry.

After I finish each novel I plan to read the pertinent entry in Deischer's book. Also, look for the Deischer Number to be added to the Submitted Number, Publication Number, and Bantam Reprint Number for each entry on DocSavage.Org .

You can email Jeff with comments at: ikonoklast61@juno.com

To order the book write:

Green Eagle Publishing
2900 Standiford Ave., 16B PBM 136
Modesto, CA 95350

We've discussed reading Doc novels in published order or submission order or by author. I propose that if you really want to experience reading a Doc novel like they did in 1939 you drop by A Day in Radio . "On September 21, 1939, WJSV, an AM radio station in Washington, D.C., recorded the entire 19 hours of its broadcast day."

That means you can read the "latest" issue of Doc Savage magazine -- The Stone Man (October 1939 was on the stands by that date) with the "proper" background sounds. (Note: Those of you who procrastinate reading would be finishing Poison Island.)

For other Background Sounds...

Tom Barnett is looking for interest in a collection of articles Will Murray has written about Doc Savage. Will asked Tom to guage reader interest in the project.

If you'd like to express interest or receive information when the collection is published email Tom at tomrbarnett@yahoo.com or leave your email as a comment here.

Doc Savage fans are a particular lot. Some have read the novels in the order they were published by Bantam. Some insist a better method is to read them in the order they were originally published. The latest "best order" is to read the novels in the order they were "submitted to Street and Smith." Guess who has that order for you?

Year
# Mag Title

1932
001 The Man of Bronze

1933
002 The Land of Terror
003 Quest of the Spider
004 The Polar Treasure
005 Pirate of the Pacific
006 The Red Skull
007 The Lost Oasis
008 The Sargasso Ogre
009 The Czar of Fear
010 The Phantom City
011 Brand of the Werewolf
012 The Man Who Shook the Earth
013 Meteor Menace
014 The Monsters
015 The Mystery on the Snow

1934
016 The King Maker
017 The Thousand-Headed Man
018 The Squeaking Goblin
019 Fear Cay
020 Death in Silver
021 The Sea Magician
022 The Annihilist
023 The Mystic Mullah
024 Red Snow
025 Land of Always-Night
026 The Spook Legion
027 The Secret in the Sky

1935
028 Spook Hole
029 The Roar Devil
030 Quest of Qui
031 Cold Death
032 The Majii
033 Mystery Under the Sea
034 Murder Melody
035 The Fantastic lsland
036 Dust of Death
037 The Seven Agate Devils
038 Murder Mirage
039 The Midas Man
040 The Black Spot
041 The Men Who Smiled No More
042 The Metal Master
043 Haunted Ocean
044 The South Pole Terror
045 Land of Long Juju
046 The Vanisher
047 Mad Eyes
048 He Could Stop the World
049 The Terror in the Navy
050 The Derrick Devil

1936
051 The Mental Wizard
052 The Land of Fear
053 Resurrection Day
054 Repel
055 The Motion Menace
056 Ost
057 The Sea Angel

1937
058 Devil on the Moon
059 The Golden Peril
060 The Feathered Octopus
061 The Living Fire Menace
062 The Mountain Monster
063 The Pirate's Ghost
064 The Red Terrors
065 The Submarine Mystery

1938
066 The Giggling Ghosts
067 The Munitions Master
068 Fortress of Solitude
069 The Devil Genghis
070 The Green Death
071 Mad Mesa
072 The Yellow Cloud
073 Merchants of Disaster
074 The Freckled Shark
075 World's Fair Goblin
076 The Gold Ogre

1939
077 The Flaming Falcons
078 The Crimson Serpent
079 Hex
080 Poison Island
081 The Stone Man
082 The Angry Ghost
083 The Dagger in the Sky
084 The Other World
085 The Spotted Men
086 The Evil Gnome
087 The Boss of Terror
088 The Flying Goblin

1940
089 The Purple Dragon
090 Tunnel Terror
091 The Awful Egg
092 The Headless Men
093 The Awful Dynasty
094 Devils of the Deep
095 The Men Vanished
096 The Devil's Playground
097 Bequest of Evil
098 The All-White Elf
099 The Golden Man
100 The Pink Lady
101 The Magic Forest
102 The Mindless Monsters
103 The Rustling Death
104 The Green Eagle
105 Mystery Island

1941
106 Birds of Death
107 Peril in the North
108 The Invisible-Box Murders
109 Men of Fear
110 The Man Who Fell Up
111 The Too-Wise Owl
112 Pirate Isle
113 The Speaking Stone

1942
114 The Three Wild Men
115 The Fiery Menace
116 The Laugh of Death
117 They Died Twice
118 The Devil's Black Rock
119 The Time Terror
120 The Talking Devil
121 Waves of Death
122 The King of Terror
123 The Black, Black Witch
124 The Running Skeletons
125 Mystery on Happy Bones

1943
126 The Goblins
127 The Mental Monster
128 Hell Below
129 The Secret of the Su
130 The Spook of Grandpa Eben
131 The Whisker of Hercules
132 According to Plan of a One-Eyed Mystic
133 Death Had Yellow Eyes
134 The Derelict of Skull Shoal
135 The Three Devils
136 The Pharaoh's Ghost

1944
137 The Man Who Was Scared
138 The Shape of Terror
139 Weird Valley
140 Jin San
141 Satan Black
142 The Lost Giant
143 Violent Night
144 Strange Fish
145 The Ten-Ton Snakes
146 Cargo Unknown
147 Rock Sinister
148 The Terrible Stork
149 King Joe Cay

1945
150 The Wee Ones
151 Terror Takes 7
152 The Thing That Pursued
153 Trouble on Parade
154 The Screaming Man
155 Measures for a Coffin
156 Se-Pah-Poo
157 Terror and the Lonely Widow
158 Five Fathoms Dead
159 Death is a Round Black Spot
160 Colors for Murder

1946
161 Fire and Ice
162 Three Times a Corpse
163 The Exploding Lake
164 Death in Little Houses
165 The Devil Is Jones
166 The Disappearing Lady
167 Target for Death
168 Danger Lies East
169 The Death Lady
170 No Light to Die By
171 The Monkey Suit

1947
172 Let's Kill Ames
173 Once Over Lightly
174 I Died Yesterday
175 The Pure Evil
176 Terror Wears No Shoes

1948
177 The Angry Canary
178 The Swooning Lady
179 In Hell, Madonna
180 The Green Master
181 Return From Cormoral

1949
182 Up From Earth's Center

In a previous column we listed the order Doc Savage novels were submitted to the publisher. We weren't finished. Below we have the five novels that were quickest "submitted to published" in days. We used the submitted date and subtracted it from the first day of the published month. (Yes, we know the novels weren't published on that day, but we needed a consistant date.)

After the Quickest Five we have the Slowest Five. They are the novels that languished the longest on the editor's desk.

Quickest Five

Days
43 The Polar Treasure
68 The Man of Bronze
71 The Land of Terror
85 The Roar Devil
87 Quest of the Spider

Slowest Five

Days
547 Mad Eyes
573 He Could Stop the World
574 The Magic Forest
608 The Rustling Death
688 The Motion Menace

January 17, 2000: An interview with Will Murray

Doc Savage Info is making a big change. Look for something new before Doc's birthday... November 7th.